Cold Hearted Banner
by CheshireCheeseNate
Summary: Loki's back, with the tesseract and even more powerful than ever. His plan's ready to go, and this time he has something he didn't have before. The monster. With Bruce on his side, Tony and the rest of the Avengers will have to work harder and fight harder than before to get their friend back, and save the world before Loki claims it for his own. (Rated M for later chapters! :3)
1. A bit of Research

His heart felt cold, it felt like it was no longer his own. It felt like someone had ripped it out of his chest and placed it with a icy hollow shell. How could he have been so foolish? The email was obviously too good to be true. But he went. He went regardless of the costs. _Foolishness is man's downfall_, the would-be heir would whisper to him constantly. And he was right. Of course he was right. Everything he said was right, it all made sense now. The tesseract had shown him the truth. Bruce felt a certain calmness, a reassurance flow through him as he stalked the halls of Stark Tower, collecting files of information all about J.A.R.V.I.S, S.H.I.E.L.D and the Avengers. No one confronted him about it, no one really noticed or cared that he was there. They were used to him popping in from time to time to visit Tony in the lab. When the doctor felt like he was satisfied that he had collected enough information, he made his way to the rather impressive lab built by the billionaire himself. It was empty, and gave Bruce the perfect opportunity to drop off a little present into J.A.R.V.I.S' system. The man's eyes reflected back at him through the computer's screen as he searched. Eyes that were cold. Eyes that were not his own.

After a few minutes, Tony walked into the lab casually, placing a screwdriver in his pocket. Not really suprised to see Banner there, he simply smiled and walked over to a piece of his suit he had been working on. "Hey Bruce, what're you doing?" He asked, oblivious to any change in the doctor. Bruce smiled to himself as he searched through the different files. "O-oh..just a bit of research Tony.. that's all. Y'know, science stuff." He smiled at the other, through the reflection of the screen. "What are you doing Tony?" His hands typed away furiously as he attempted to gain any last scrap of information that might be useful to him. Tony walked away from the suit and logged onto his laptop, sitting down on the workbench. "Just coming in here to look for you and make sure you're all right. Did you hear about Natasha and Clint getting brainwashed? It's crazy.." he said, not taking his eyes off the screen. Conversations were often like this with these two, they normally never took their eyes off the screens of their computers, or away from their projects they were working on. "Really..? That's crazy" Bruce replied, he couldn't help but smile. "Out of everyone, you came looking for little old me, Tony? That's unusual of you.." He finished with his upload and drew up the last of the required data, putting the memory stick in his pocket and logged out. He smiled at Tony as he put his jacket on. "Well.. I'll see you later." Bruce quickly walked out, he had been sucsessful. He had been sucsessful _and_ gotten away with it. Hacking into the computer had been child's play, and Bruce wasn't even a master hacker. "Psh! Of course I look out for you, see you later Banner." he looked over the computer as the man in the purple shirt left and the his eyes focused back on the screen. After a few moments, he raised his eyebrow, frustrated. "J.A.R.V.I.S...someone just got into our system, undetected at the time." His eyes were wide and his voice heavy with annoyance. Who could have done this? he looked into it with more detail. "Data was just recentley downloaded, sir." Tony was confused, he hadn't downloaded anything.. and only he and.. _Bruce_ knew the the password.

Banner got into the elevator and laughed as the doors closed. That had been ten times easier than he thought it would be. He hated doing this, but he had no choice or say in the matter. He was a pawn in a game of chess. His heart was cold, and Loki needed the information. He needed Bruce. As he reached the ground floor, he sighed as he realised it was raining. Not habing brought an umbrella, he simply walked out into the rain and down the street, merging in with the crowd but trying to keep in the shelter. Back at the Tower, Tony cursed over and over at how simply Bruce had gotten away with all that. "J.A.R.V.I.S! I want the suit on NOW!" He bellowed, J.A.R.V.I.S already attatching the suit. The mask closed and Stark gritted his teeth. "Track down our little doctor.." Tony felt so angry at not only Bruce, but at himself for trusting him. "Tracking.." And within a few seconds, J.A.R.V.I.S responded. "Target found, sir." Tony went to the window and flew out, going to get back what was rightfully his.

Bruce had managed to distance himself quite far from the tower, and a lot closer to his destination. He carried on walking until he got to a tunnel. Hair dripping over his face, he smiled as he combed it back with his hand and unfogged his glasses, placing them in his pocket with the memory stick, eyes still the shade of pale blue. He stood, awaiting for the car that was to pick him up to escort him to Loki's new hideout. This is what Loki wanted. Last time, he merely wished to test the Hulk. Now he owned him. He owned the monster and was more than eager to test out the new... capabilities he had been testing out on the doctor through the power of the tesseract. This time, Loki would not lose.


	2. Confrontation

"Target found, descend here and head into the tunnel, sir. Doctor Banner is in there." Tony quickly landed and walked down the tunnel briskly as he could with the suit, activating his night vision. He saw a man there, who J.A.R.V.I.S automatically analysed as Bruce.

"Bruce! What're you doing?" he had so many questions, but this was the only one he could ask through the suprise, rage and some sympathy. This wasn't like Banner, something was up. The other man smiled at him, leant against the wall, turning his head to look at him. "Singing in the rain Stark. You should try it... it's better than yoga for sure." He chuckled lightly. "What are you doing here..? Shouldn't you be back at your little tower?" Bruce crossed his arms. The car was late. 10 minutes late. Something wasn't right. "Why the fascination with me, Tony?" Tony glared at him under the mask, the tower was his pride and joy - and far from _little._ Suddenly, Steve's voice rung into his mask. There was a lot of static and background noise. "St-stark! Find Banner! He's under control, like Clint! Thor and myself just stopped the car that was gonna pick him up... he's got valuble information and looks like he's meant to give it to Loki."

"I've got Banner, Steve. Make sure all transports that could come and get him are gone." he raised the mask as he finished speaking. "Singing..? Doesn't sound like you doctor..." Tony walked towards him as he spoke. "Fascination? Who said anything about fascination?" Stark said, lowering his mask again. Only reason being that he didn't want Bruce to see him blush. Banner raised an eyebrow, smiling still as he looked at his watch again. "Oh.. I'm actually quite good.. you should hear me in the shower." Bruce laughed again. "It's a hobby of mine.. when I'm not doing science things.. I like to paint too. I've redecorated recentley too, painted the living room yellow. Always like that colour... but I don't think it suits me very well.. it's very bright." his smile faded and he sighed. "Well.. I've enjoyed this little talk Tony, but I really should be off.. got things to do.. people to see.. science research needing to be done.. ect..ect.." he started to head off and away from the suited Stark as quickly aas he could, needing to get away. Tony chuckled and hovered in the air. "Oh no, no, no, no,no doctor. You're not going anywhere. First off.. you're not too fond of people. And aren't particually fond of being told what to do at what time. If you had research to do, you never would have left the lab." Tony said, landing infront of him to block his exit. Bruce glared at Tony slightly, looking around for any other way of escaping. "Well.. I've had a change of heart, Stark." He answered in a half-truth. "People do change.. you gotta stop living in the past, move on. I really do need to go... I think I might have left my bunsen burner on.." Tony shook his head and narrowed his eyes at the other. "Fair enough, but, when did you start wearing coloured contacts? You have glasses, Banner."  
"I think glasses give off the wrong impression of me.. I want to be more confident.." He raised his eyebrow cockily. "Not be a super-nerd.. y'now? Maybe get a girlfriend or something..." Tony merely laughed at that statement.  
"You're a goo actor Bruce, I'm impressed. If I was any other loser then yeah, I might have believed you. Just.. one more question. Banner, why do you have a memory stick.. full of stolen information on The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. Secondly, why did you steal it from me?"  
Bruce laughed, caught out, he ran a hand through his wet, brown hair. "Why.. thank you Tony. I used to take classes... y'know.. to increase my confidence." He smiles again. "I thought you wouldn't mind.. it wa.. just a bit of homework I supposed?" He shrugged and quickly looked over Tony's shoulder, as if seeing something appauling. Tony quickly turned around, apon realising there was nothing there he soon realised that Bruce had quickly ran in the opposite direction, jumping down from the bridge and landing on his feet, heading away from the metal man and quickly pressed a button in his pocket. The button relayed a virus he had installed into J.A.R.V.I.S previously. He contiuned to run, not looking behind. Tony's suit suddenly shut down. "Damnit!" he cursed loudly. "J.A.R.V.I.S! Back up system!" Nothing happened. Tony groaned and kicked the eject button with his foot, now he knew why he put that there. He fell out of the suit and scoweled. _Damn him! Damn the fucking world! _ He icked a rock and headed back to Stark Towers. _You want a fight Bruce? I'll give you a goddamn war.._ He repeated in his head as he walked in the rain, not really caring.

The doctor ran, further than he'd done in a while and he could feel the cold, sharp wind burning in his chest. That had scared him. The thought of having to fight his best friend, his science bro scared him. He couldn't control himself, Loki made him fight. The power of the tesseract made him fight. Bruce was scared of what would happen when he was forced to unleash the Other guy... he didn't wanna hurt Tony, or anyone.. atleast anyone who didn't deserve it. And Tony definatley didn't. He had no say in the matter though, the choice was Loki's to do what he wanted. He hid behind a wall when he saw the Captain, who was fighting off one of Loki's lower henchmen. Bruce snuck past, unseen and jumped into one of the black cars that Loki had sent. The car drove off, to the undisclosed location of the asgaridan's new hideout.

The rain continued to pour as the night went on. The drops rolled down the blacked-out car's windows, leaving tear like patterns behind. Bruce watched them as the car continued to seed away. He watched the rain fall. Like the tears he could no longer cry himself, but the tears he felt inside his ice-cold heart.


	3. The Other Guy

The night was long, and the would-be heir was delighted at the information he had gained from his newest... accomplice. It took quite a long time for Bruce to explain the data and the files to Loki, but when he understood, he grinned. He would have his revenge, and this time no one could stop him. Not S.H.I.E.L.D... not the Avengers and definatley his blasted brother. He spent the night learning all he could, every last scrap of history, anything that could aid him. No one slept, Bruce could feel the ache for sleep burn around his sapphire eyes, but he would not sleep. He couldn't. The rain stopped pouring in the earlier hours of the morning, the city sky was a musky brown and the lights continued to shine on. The lights of Stark Tower still glowing on, with the namesake owner feeling not so bright.  
Tony was working furiously in his lab. He had just re-written J.A.R.V.I.S's code and made him unhackable, changing the passwords. He should hate Bruce, beyond hate him - he stole his technology and hacked into his suit. Two things that made him who he was, but he didn't. He couldn't. Of course he couldn't. He could say he did, but he'd never mean it. He beat the last piece into his suit and smiled at his work, he let out a sigh. Pulling his gloves off he wiped his brow not hearing the footsteps of the Doctor behind him. Bruce walked into the lab, hands in his pocket, wearing his familiar yellow shirt and a smile. "Hey there Stark...How's Jarvis doing?" He asked as he propped himself up on a workbench, arms crossed. Tony turned slowly to look at Bruce then turned back to his suit, he grabbed the hammer and pounded it again hard. "Fine..away...from...you...and...your..viruses." He said between slams.  
Bruce laughed, "Shame... guess I'm not as good as hacking as I thought.." He looked around, "No one else here...? Natasha? Clint? Fury? Steve?" The lab seemed empty enough, there had been hardly any people in the tower, compared to usual. "Nope. Just me and my incomplete suit... How's that brainwashing of yours coming along? Feel clean yet?" He remarked sarcastically as he stopped pounding the metal. "Brainwashing..?" He smiled, picking up a screwdriver and fiddling with it. " I have no idea what you're talking about, Stark.." He stood up, starting to walk around the lab, looking at the different pieces of equiptment, running the screwdriver over his hands. "Please Banner, save it, it's obvious. Have you looked in the mirror latley." Tony said, watching the man intently. Bruce simply nodded, laughing. "Is that your way of trying to tell me that I'm not pretty?" He looked up, pouting at the other man, " I haven't the opportunity to look in a mirror yet." He jabbed the man in the back with the screwdriver. "No? No reaction? Nothing?" He said with a chuckle, repeating what had once been said to him by the billionarie himself. "How do you do it Stark? Yoga?"  
The billionaire shook his head, "No, that's not what I'm saying at all..." He was just going to have to stop trying to use words only, they weren't working. He sighed sadly and looked back at his suit, starting to reatach it again, remaining quiet. He didn't like this Bruce at all. Nope. Not one bit, and it was all Loki's fault. Oooh he would pay. Tont didn't like it when people touched his stuff and mess with it, and Bruce was his. But this Bruce... well this Bruce just wasn't. The doctor yawned and pulled out a gun he had been keeping in his back pocket. "Well, not like this hasn't been fun or anything Tony but I am here with a purpose. The tesseract has shown me that." He ran his finger over the gun and alarm bells started ringing in Tony's head. The tesseract? At that point Tony heard a shot and felt a bullet go into his arm, he stumbled back leaning against the bench for support. Lucky the doctor was a bad shot.. or maybe he had been aiming there? Not to kill..? Tony burst into laughter, holding his arm painfully. "I... never saw you to be a gun type of person..doctor Banner.."  
Bruce shook his head and shrugged, "Well... let's just say I've had experience with guns before, Mr Stark." His cold eyes locked onto Tony and smirked. This, this would destroy Tony. It would hurt him, maybe not phsyically but mentally. For that was the plan. Strip everything away and take away the things he had cared about until he has nothing left, nothing left to fight for. Not trying to destroy the Avengers, but break them.  
Bruce put the gun in his own mouth, hand slightly shakey as he winked at the other. Tony's eyes went wide in shock, he held out his one good arm. "BRUCE! NO! Stop.. please. Bruce, don't do this. Don't you fucking dare think about pulling that trigger!" He meant it as a threat, a warning but his voice was weak and almost pleading. It had killed him inside to think that a man so clever, so talented so charismatic yet so humble before could get to a point in his life where he couldn't see an end and decided to kill himself before. It had shcoked Tony when he heard Bruce say it, let alone see his friend do it again before him.., not even of his own choice. It was Loki. The sight of it would haunt him for life, or at least until the Hulk came out and killed him. The Hulk. The monster. Tony froze up even more at the thought of that. "Please Bruce... you don't need to do this. Don't listen to that bastard!"  
Banner took the gun out of his mouth just enough to speak. "Sorry Tony, but it's gotta be done." He placed it back in shakily, closing his sapphire eyes and pulled the trigger at the same time of Tony's final scream of protest. The doctor fell to the floor, a stream of blood pouring from his head and making a pool into the floor. Stark looked on, feeling sick and outraged, looking away and couldn't help but shake. As he fell, he let out a yell which caught the billionaire's attention. The doctor's body began to grow, a lot bigger, a lot greener and a hell of a lot angrier. His body grew and his yellow shirt ripped away, the loud roar of the Hulk shook the whole of the tower. He stood up and spun around, trying to find his way until the icey blue eyes of the Hulk met with the overwhelmed brown of Tony Stark's.


	4. Hulk smash

**AN: I'm really sorry for not updating for ages! I'm sorry for the bad quality of this writing! I promise I will improve and update more frequently! :)**

* * *

"Holy sh-shit!" Tony stumbled backwards at the force of the Hulk's roar which seemed to rip through the billionaire. He was still shaken from the sight of Bruce and the gun but now was no time for recovery. Now was the time to get the hell outta there. "J.A.R.V.I.S! J.A.R.V.I.S, get Rodgers and Thor here now!" He ducked out of the way of the Hulk's massive fist. Even the monster's enraged eyes were a sharp blue. If he carried on like this, he'd be a Stark pancake. The Hulk seemed very intent on smashing every piece of equipment in the room, including Tony's damaged suit. Tony rushed outwards, "J.A.R.V.I.S! Back up suit!" he sprinted as far as he could, only to have the massive beast charge right after him.

Tony only had one option now, to fly. He went straight for the window, clenching his eyes tight as he fell through, the glass smashing.

The Hulk followed right after, easily able soar outwards, grabbing the billionaire by his ankle and crushing it. Tony yelled out in pain, the glass cutting into his face and his tibia practically crushed into dust. He screamed out, trying to escape from the painful grasp but there was no way out. They were high above the city of New York, the Hulk falling right to the ground and smashing anything down there – destroying several cars and any civilians who were down there. Hulk flung Tony across the street like a baby throwing his toy out of the playpen.

_This is it. This is how I die. Killed by a giant green rage monster._

Closing his eyes and wishing for the pain to be quick, he crashed into building, hitting the wall with such force that it completely obliterated the concrete structure, falling under the rubble without a sound.

_I'm dead. This is it. I'm dead. Is this death? Just darkness and pain? I still feel pain? How can I..? I.._

"Stark! Stark do you read me?" the familiar panicked voice of the super soldier called.

_Steve… You finally showed up. Great. Steve I'm here._

"Stark! Come on out!" he called again. He began to remove the rubble the best he could, finding the broken billionaire buried beneath. "Tony?"

Tony's eyes flickered open, the blinding light causing him to panic. Soon enough, the blurred image of the suited soldier came into view.

_I'm alive… _

The Hulk's roar echoed throughout the city, the sound of police sirens, screaming and destruction now ringing in Tony's ears as he regained partial consciousness.

"You're here… Thank God." He pulled the rest of the destroyed building off his friend, not wanting to move him. Steve winced at the sight of Tony, not saying another word. "We're gonna need some medics over here!" He yelled, turning around.

Tony's hearing became lost at the sound of a ground shaking crash of thunder above.

_Thor.._

That was the last thing the genius could recall as he managed to be taken away by S.H.I.E.L.D medics despite the raging battle being carried out between Thor, Steve and the Hulk. There was no way they could win on their own despite their joined power. Helicopters darkened the New York sky as they attempted to take out the beast, shooting to kill. The state of the city was almost worse than their battle with the Chitauri, The Hulk obliterating anything in sight in a mindless sapphire rage of fury.

-

The sound of hushed whispers was what Stark awoke to. His mind was a fuzzy blur as he tried to move, unable to. Pepper came to his side immediately.

_Pepper.. why are you in my room? Am I late for something..? Leave me alone. 5 more minutes._

"Tony.. Oh God. Steve! He's awake!"

The blonde came through, walking over. "Stark, it's good to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

_Capsicle? Get the hell out! A guy needs some privacy.. what is it, like 3am?_

When he finally opened his eyes, he realised he wasn't in the comfort of his bedroom with an attractive woman but in a hospital bed in the company of two; Pepper and Steve.

"Bruce.. wha-..?"

"Dr Banner has been contained. He's still under Loki's spell but he's being kept in an underground facility. Hasn't transformed in two months." Steve reported, looking empathetically at him.

"Two _months..? _Where the hell have I been?" He asked, his voice hoarse and catching. S_omeone get me some goddamnwater._

"Sleeping, Tony," Pepper's softer voice responded, placing a hand on Tony's chest. "The arc-reactor was badly damaged so.. they did some stuff to it.. I don't know. I think Bruce can explained.. he helped.."

_Banner helped? He touched my stuff? Damn my head hurts… I've been out for two months..?_

"How bad do I look?" Tony asked, appearances coming up immediately, of course.

Pepper didn't respond, instead kissing the top of Tony's forehead gently before leaving the room as quickly as the months had passed for him.

"Cap? You gonna answer?"  
Steve took a second to try and think of a way to put it, but decided just to go ahead and say it. "They had to remove your.. your leg, Tony."

_MY MOTHERFUCKING LEG? Ok. Some iced up Grinch son-of-a-bitch is going down. Now._


End file.
